The Chronicle

Dear Parents

As this half term draws to a close, I would like to congratulate each and everyone one of our families for coping so magnificently during this lockdown.  It has been hard for everyone and, I feel, particularly more difficult this time due to the fact that we haven’t been able to get outside so much and enjoy fresh air and nature. However, seeing the children online, their photographs, the PTA events and hearing about what you are all managing to accomplish at home is heart-warming and encouraging.  We are often able to find ways to adapt and make the best of situations and credit is due to people who manage this.  That’s not to say that we wouldn't all welcome a return to traditional schooling (with new initiatives) as soon as possible.

This week has seen a flurry of activities with children from Nursery to Junior 6 exploring Chinese New Year celebrations with Mrs Huang, with help from other members of staff.  Not many of you would have known that we have a British and European Gold Medallist in our midst.  Mr Vaughan, a black belt in Aikido organised live Wing Chun lessons for pupils which was very well received by many and you can learn more later in this edition.

This week’s stars of the week were: Ella, Charley, Isabel, Beatrice, Shuvan, Finley, Darcey, Mairen, Carter, Leonardo, Stephanie, Freddie and Noah.  I was also delighted to announce that there were lots of Da Vinci awards presented this week including: Andrew, Lucas, Matilda, Kate and Elle for their work in English.  Lexi and Josh for super work in Mathematics.  Finley, Hattie and Isla for their efforts in Science.  Well done to all of you and I know that your certificates will be posted to you very soon.  I have been made aware of some others who have or are receiving their awards soon and we look forward to announcing these in the next celebration assembly.

As you will see from the newsletter, I am pleased to announce that we will be welcoming a new member of staff in September.  Ms Sharon McAloon will be joining us as Assistant Head in September and brings with her a wealth of experience.  I am thrilled that Sharon will joining us and I know that you will make her feel very welcome indeed.

There is a lot more to read in this week’s edition so I will keep my message to you brief for today.  School will be closed over half term but Nursery will remain open; as will the school office, but on reduced hours.  Critical Worker care will reopen on 22 February and a questionnaire asking for your requirements will be sent during half term; please bear in mind that if any changes are made to your booking, we will need 24 hours’ notice in order to organise staff and ‘bubbles’.

We are currently working through the mid-year reports and these will be available to you towards the end of the half term break.

I should like to thank all my staff for their tireless efforts over the past half term, including being able to adjust and manage their routines so well.

I wish you all a restful half term with your families.

God bless,

Mr Duigan

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Congratulations to them all!

Pupils and staff will be welcoming a new member to the school’s leadership team in September. Sharon McAloon, an experienced teacher and senior leader, has been appointed Assistant Head of Academic and Key Stage 2.

Ms McAloon brings a wealth of experience to her new role having played a significant part in the development and management of a number of primary schools. Ms McAloon will be joining us from St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Southam where she has been working as a senior leader and teacher with responsibilities across the curriculum. She has nearly 15 years of experience of teaching at Key Stage 2 and on leading schools programmes on Mathematics, Literacy, Special Educational Needs and Gifted and Talented. She has also worked in Switzerland at La Cote International School.

As a member of the senior leadership team, she will work closely with the Headmaster and colleagues to ensure that pupils achieve to the very best of their abilities.

Explaining her approach to learning, Sharon McAloon comments, “A child's happiness is intrinsic to their personal and academic growth. Staff must know every single pupil as an individual and put their happiness and welfare first and from that success flows. I am delighted that I have been given the opportunity to lead on Academic and Key Stage 2 at Crackley Hall. I look forward to working with all of the parents and staff, but my main aim will be to engage Crackley’s pupils with an enthusiasm for learning.”

Rob Duigan, comments, “We are delighted that Sharon has accepted the position of Assistant Head, Academic and Key Stage 2. When interviewing her for the role I was impressed with how her passion for the curriculum was balanced with her philosophy that achievement sits alongside pastoral wellbeing, an ethos which is echoed here at Crackley Hall. She will be a key figure in the future of our teaching provision at Crackley and the education of the children here. I wish her well in her new role.”

Crackley Hall School has been marking Chinese New Year this week with pupils exploring Chinese culture by taking part in a variety of activities and lessons. Across the school pupils have been discussing Chinese New Year, what the Chinese do to prepare, how they celebrate, why the Chinese are so fond of the colour red and which zodiac animal year is coming up. They have loved sharing in the celebration and have produced stunning work in school and at home.

The children in Nursery have joined in the fun exploring Chinese numbers and taking part in their own lion dance while pupils in Reception wished one another ‘Gong Xi Fa Cai’ ‘Wishing you great health and prosperity’ as they learned about the traditions associated with Chinese New Year. They also enjoyed reading and sequencing the traditional tale of the Jade Emperor who decided which animals would have a year of the zodiac, finding out which animal corresponded to their year of birth and writing sentences explaining whether they were a goat or a monkey!

Pupils in Year 3 explored the Legend of Nian and wrote Chinese setting descriptions. In their history lessons they compared the Terracotta Army with the Egyptian Pyramids creating presentations about both historical wonders. The children also drew Chinese dragons and make a Chinese dragon from an egg box in their Art lessons. Ivy's mum sent through information about Lucky New Year Fish and instructions on how to make them - which the children really enjoyed. Then today Junior 3 have undertaken a Maths challenge set by the Chinese Emperor – including a lantern sequencing challenge, investigating the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac, a chessboard challenge and a fortune cookie conundrum.

Junior 5 also enjoyed celebrating Chinese New Year making dumplings, a long-held Lunar New Year ritual, usually done over festive reunion dinners to usher in a celebration of new beginnings, wealth and good fortune.

Mr Vaughan, a black belt and British and European Gold Medallist in Aikido, who also studied Taiho Jutsu and Wing Chun for a number of years, organised live Wing Chun lessons for pupils. It was an amazing opportunity for the children to experience the martial arts.

The Chinese New Year lasts for 15 days so the celebrations will continue after half term with Mandarin teacher, Mrs Huang. Key Stage 1 pupils will have the option of playing zodiac animal martial art, drawing a cute cow/ox and learning a Chinese 'Happy New Year' song while Key Stage 2 will take part in a quiz.

Chinese New Year has offered another wonderful opportunity for the children to take a cross curricular approach to their learning, an approach we know excites and engages them. They have all enjoyed immersing themselves in the vibrant celebrations and we would like to take this opportunity to wish all in our community a happy and prosperous Chinese New Year.

Please use the following link to sign up for school closure updates on the Warwickshire County Council website.

Sign up

On Tuesday it was Safer Internet Day, please follow the links below for information:

Safer Internet Information

Information for Parents

https://www.net-aware.org.uk/networks/dubsmash/

https://www.net-aware.org.uk/networks/tiktok/

https://www.net-aware.org.uk/networks/snapchat/

Please see the letter below from Warwickshire County Council which provides links for Mental Health and Wellbeing Services.

Letter

On World Book Day the children (and staff) will be asked to dress up as a character from a book, even though we are likely to still be at home.

More details to follow nearer the time.

Mathletes of the week for Mrs Hardwick's class is Aaryan

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Glen-Roots's class is Jess

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Holmes's class is Daiya

Mathlete of the week for Mr Stedeford's group is Sebastian

Mathletes of the week for Mrs VanZyl's group are Sienna and Ted

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Wildey's class is Joseph 

Mathletes of the week for Mrs Burley's group is Ralph

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Roberts's group is Alfred

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Lammas's group is George

Well done all! 

The Broadway Arts Festival are running a short story competition – it is the one that Seb Dibb won last year.

You can find the information here:

https://broadwayartsfestival.com/short-story-prize/

It is free to enter and there is no theme.  There is word limit of 2000 words and there is a prize of £50 for the U13 category.

The deadline for entries is 5pm on Wednesday 31 March.  All information on how to enter is on the website.

Please do have a look and encourage the children to enter.  We have some fantastic writers in all parts of the school!

The winning stories will be shared on the Broadway Arts Festival website - you can read Sebastian's winning story there!

This week Dan has been cooking with a helping hand from his daughters.

All put together on a step by step basis for pupils and parents to watch and cook along!

Youtube channel

Home School Bistro Pack

Dear Parents

As we look ahead to the half-term holiday I am sure both you and your children will be looking forward to a break from online learning.  We are also conscious that whilst it is cold and dark keeping children purposefully occupied throughout the week can be difficult.

We know that our children thrive on being busy and occupied.  With this in mind we have arranged for all pupils to have complimentary access, should they wish, to an academic Half-term Camp that is being hosted online by RocketLearn.  

Put together by two former Independent Prep School Heads, the camp is free for pupils who sign up using our unique school code CRACKLEYHALFTERM. If you sign up your child will be able to access live lessons each day in Maths and English, together with an afternoon activity session. The English will focus on Mindfulness and diary writing, a topic we feel could be very useful in the current climate.  Each child will also have a workbook in which they can complete their Maths and English.

Prizes and certificates will be awarded.

If you would like to sign up or read more about it please click here.  There are three different Maths levels; Bronze (aimed at yrs 3-4) Silver (yrs 5-6)and Gold (yrs 7-8) children are welcome to try as many levels as they wish.

If you would like to reserve your FREE place please register here using code CRACKLEYHALFTERM when prompted. 

With all best wishes 

Alicia Coad (Rocket Learn)

The Stratford Literary Festival have an annual Young Poets Competition for local children. Please click on the link below for more details:

Young Poets Competition 2021

Please follow the link below to the Raring2go! Winter Digital Edition:

Winter Edition

Please follow the link below for a digital copy of Families Warwickshire Magazine.

Magazine

This week, Junior 6 have been continuing their mastery of long division.  They have been practising their fluency of the process and then working hard to solve problems relating to it, particularly looking at what to do with the remainder and whether it needed to be rounded up or down.  

In RE, we have begun to look at the season of Lent and we focussed on the Ash Wednesday Gospel, thinking about how we could apply Jesus' teaching to our own lives.  We have also thought about how poverty affects people around the world and what CAFOD are doing to help this. 

Our J5s have been busy creating Winter Landscapes during their Art lessons. Under the expert guidance of Mrs Clark, the children have been instructed to create these landscapes using any media they wish. So far, there have been some stunning photographs, pastels and sketches produced – we certainly have a talented bunch of children.

The children are finding out about the Tudors, in History. Last week, it was the Reformation and this week it is ‘Witches Galore!’ Our talented historians and artists designed their very own wanted posters for the suspected witches of the Tudor period. Watch out: if you were an older lady, who lived on her own with cats, you may have been persecuted as a witch!!  

This term so far, Junior 4 have focused on writing the date in French. As easy as it may seem, it actually involves three separate elements: numbers from 1 to 31, days of the week and months of the year.

Then there are these French quirks, such as days and months not starting with a capital letter, and the French using cardinal, not ordinal numbers. The children have practised with worksheets and games and are now enjoying live lessons.

We can now focus on a most important date: our birthdays!

In anticipation of the Chinese New Year on Friday, Junior 3 have been learning all about this amazing international celebration. We have read all about the customs and traditions of the new year festivities and Ivy kindly shared her instructions on how to make a lucky fish mobile.

In our history lesson we found out all about the terracotta army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang and compared this ancient wonder to the pyramids of Giza. We were amazed that quite a few of us even have model terracotta warriors in our homes! We have also watched dragon dances and written some fabulous setting descriptions from the point of view of someone watching the dance unfold. We are now looking forward to maths challenges set by the Emperor himself on Friday, as we tackle a chessboard challenge and a fortune cookie conundrum.

Gong Xi Fa Cai , Everyone!

Junior 2H remain industrious as we head towards a much-needed half term. We have worked so hard and our teacher is incredibly proud of all of us for coping so well with lock down and online teaching and all that brings with it! Although it has been a bitterly cold week we have sped back to the Rainforests as we work creatively, and are inspired by all we have learned. Watch out for some lovely art work after half term.

This week in Maths, we have been learning about ‘Weight’ and pupils have explored kitchen cupboards at home, searching for heavier, lighter, more and less. In Science, we have explored the work of John McAdam, whose ideas in the 19th century helped to give the world Tarmacadam. Where would we be without decent roads? Happy half term everyone!

Our last week before half term has been as busy as usual. Junior 1 have found new ways to create imaginative and descriptive poems about the weather, in English.

This linked in nicely with our Geography work – sorting out different types of weather for each season and showing what sort of clothes we should wear.

In History we took a trip down memory lane to find out what sorts of toys children played with in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. This gave us an opportunity to make some of our own toys from those times in DT, with the chance to make our own Ker-plunk, tin-can stilts, a marble run or a paper Ninja star!!

We have also been busy in Maths finishing off our measuring topic by looking at capacity and volumes of containers.

It has been a week full of celebration in Reception this week, as we explored the traditions, stories, dances and food associated with Chinese New Year. Great fun was had performing lion dances and making paper dragons too!

Continuing to consolidate all phonics and tricky words learnt to date; comparing height and length; measuring time; saying our age in French and character improvisation in Drama have all ensured a fun-packed week of learning!

We also read about St Valentine - who was a very kind and holy man - and the meaning of why we celebrate Valentine’s Day which is this Sunday. After a jam-packed half-term, we are looking forward to recharging our batteries next week in readiness for more super learning!

Please find a link to the Lent calendar below:

Calendar

2021 is the year of St Joseph. As he is the Patron of our school, we are busy planning activities linked with finding out more about the history of our school and the life of St Joseph. Look out for the different activities linked to this special year.

This Sunday’s Gospel

Gospel

Prayers for the Week

Prayers

Please find information below:

Children's Liturgy

Please click on the link below for this week's weekly mission;

Weekly Mission

Please find information below:

Children's Liturgy

Colouring Sheet

Please click on the link below for this week's weekly mission;

Weekly Mission

Monday's assembly reminded us all that during Lent we should try to make an extra effort to see the positive in even the most difficult circumstances. 

We are very lucky that at Crackley Hall, one of the overwhelming answers to the question, 'What is the most positive thing about Lockdown for you?' the pupils answer, spending more time with my family! When we flip our pancakes next Tuesday it would be lovely for the children to think about how they can change a negative thought to a positive and say it aloud.

In RE lessons this week, the pupils have been exploring the history and the meaning of Lent.  J3 have discussed the reasons why we give up things like chocolate or reduce our time on Tech and also why we are encouraged to do something for someone else.

Darcey has written up her Lent resolutions and shared them with the class. We also spoke about the symbol of the cross - remembering Father Kevin's sermon at the Ash Wednesday Mass last year, 'Cross out the 'I'  and put another person first.' Isabelle drew a beautiful Lenten cross to reflect this. 

Congratulations to Adreena, in J3, and Julia in J4, who were both awarded the Creative Da Vinci for their response to the task on the 'Our Father'. Adreena's superb actions and singing to the 'Our Father' prayer and Julia's beautiful voice really brought the prayer alive.  

Matilda in J4, also used gymnastic skills to add movement to the Stormzie song 'By Your Grace.'

Throughout the term.  all the pupils have engaged in their RE lessons with  mpressive enthusiasm and commitment - joining discussions, volunteering information and asing intelligent questions.

Important Dates

Ash Wednesday 17 February 2021

This week our nursery has been filled with colour: red, gold, yellow and orange as we focussed first on this weekend’s Valentine’s Day celebrations, and then introduced the upcoming Chinese New Year. 

The children have been talking about St Valentine and how he came to represent ‘love’, and have been making decisions about the people they love in their lives.  They then got thoroughly sticky and covered in glue, paint, paper and glitter as they designed and made cards for those loved ones. 

As we begin the half term for many, we hope you all enjoy this weekend with at least some, if not all of your loved ones close by.  Stay safe, enjoy the weekend, and keep positive: the daffodils will be out soon!

Newsletter

This week Little Crackers put the spotlight on love!

The children found out all about St Valentine and how he wrote a letter to someone he loved.

We then made cards for all the people we care about. How fabulous to hear all about the mums, dads, nannas, granddads, brothers, sisters, aunties and uncles, cousins and friends who matter most to our little ones - they are just ‘crackers’ about the people they love!

Happy Valentine’s Day for this weekend everyone!

On behalf of the PTA, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all who took part in the Bingo last week. The response was super and we were delighted to see so many parents entering into the spirit of the occasion. The PTA, would also like to pass on their sincere thanks to Mrs Jackson Mayne for being such an AMAZING Bingo caller, she certainly warmed up the crowd and made us feel like we all together in the same room.

There were also some fabulous house points earned for lines and houses, and the chosen charity from the raffle draw was Myton Hospice, a cheque will be raised and presented to the charity as soon as its safe to do so.

I hope soon, that we can all,  ‘ Knock on each other’s door ’ number 4, or see each for a number 3, ‘ Cup of tea’!

The PTA have been working incredibly hard this term to try to think of innovative and safe ways to continue to raise extra funds for school whilst keeping us entertained. If anybody has any ideas for things we could do next term, please forward them to; ch@pta.crackleyhall.co.uk. All ideas will be welcome and discussed at the next PTA meeting on Wednesday 10 March.

Have a wonderful half term and a well-deserved rest!